Sucy's Rhyme
by AevumAce
Summary: The witches thought it was a great idea to go on a beach trip in the tropical islands for summer but then it became a horrid mess when their rented van broke down in the middle of the mountains and Sucy decided to have fun with her own kind of devilish way. Dianakko Week Day 5


Day 5: Day Spellbound/Enchanted

"Whose idea was it to suddenly have a camping beach trip in Southeast Asia?" Amanda asked.

Akko got irritated. She knew Amanda was trying to irk her. "Hey!" she pointed at the fiery redhead's chest. "I wasn't the only one who thought it was a good idea!"

Amanda was about to make a rebuttal when Lotte got in between the two hot-headed witches. While the two continued bickering, Professor Ursula looked at the van they rented from the Airport. Seeking for what caused the engine to suddenly die down.

"Any ideas why?" Professor Ursula asked their little mechanical engineer German girl.

Constanze gave a shrug, her eyes determined to tinker with the vehicle. Stanbot—her little robot familiar—was hanging on Constanze's shoulder and yelled with its squeaky voice. "It might take hours to know and get it fixed!"

"Oh my," Professor Ursula said, thinking the hard decision as the sole adult companion of nine young witches.

It was a totally random day in the summer when Akko contacted all of her friends and invited them to go have fun at a tropical beach and now one thing led to another. Sucy agreed to be the provider of place as she was the only one who lived in a tropical country and the cost of living was totally cheap.

At first, it was a great breakaway for summer but it began to become not so great when the van broke down in the middle of the mountains, still hours away from the initial beach camping grounds.

Diana proceeded to scout the area; the witches had come to know that they had landed into some sort of valley protected by some high mountains that stretched everywhere the eyes laid on.

"Where are we?" Diana asked, looking at Akko's mysterious teammate.

"Somewhere in Manba Island Mountains, of course," Sucy grinned.

"Mountains?" Akko asked. Her argument with Amanda has already ceased. "I thought we were heading towards a beach?"

"Akko, on the other side of the mountains is the beach," Sucy said. "It's actually a good tourist spot, so quit your whining."

Akko fished for her phone in her pocket, looking at the screen. "There's no phone signal here! We could have called some help."

"How much further until we get to there?" Diana asked.

Akko felt Diana's breath and presence from behind her. She jerked forward and turned around. "How long will you keep on sneaking up on me?"

Diana flipped her hair to cool the book of her neck from the heat, or perhaps because it's a mannerism of being raised as an elite, "As long as you keep making reckless decisions."

"Three hours away on foot," Lotte answered her, navigating the route on the map. "I don't think we can carry all of our stuff in our brooms. The last time, Sucy brought me here, the sun sets around five in the afternoon. It'd be dark and it'd be harder to navigate where we are."

"You don't suppose we could hitchhike?" Akko suggested.

"This road is private property, Akko." Sucy snarled, showing her sharp canine teeth. "We're heading to a private beach!"

"The cost of living in your country is pretty cheap." Akko noticed. "That all of us could just rent the place without own pocket money."

The fiery in Sucy's visible eye looked like she was about to skin Akko alive when the Japanese girl was saved by another conversation.

"Anyways, I knew tropical countries are hot, but this is way too hot!" Hannah complained to Barbara. They both stood behind their team leader, enjoying local ice drops they bought at a convenience store on the way.

Akko could sympathize, she's wearing a plain shirt and shorts but she still fanned herself, her tongue sticking out. "But I guess that's what makes the beaches special."

All of them had been wearing lighter clothing except who Sucy who was clad in her old long robes. None of them could fathom the heat nor could they comprehend how Sucy could bear it.

"Since we can't leave until morning, it means we have to camp here." Professor Ursula suggested then faced the native witch. "Are the forests safe?"

"There are no bears in here if that's what you all want to know." Sucy deadpanned. "But our culture's rich in monsters so you all better watch out."

"Can't we at least do magic here?" Amanda asked, handing Constanze a wrench from a box of tools. The German witch was by now busy tinkering at the engine while standing on a stool.

All eyes turned to Sucy. "Not really," she answered, getting distracted when she saw a group of mushrooms growing on a decaying log. "The Manbavaran's specialty is potions because we don't have a sorcerer's stone here in the island, also the various ingredients readily available."

"Basically," Diana said, looking at her wand's energy reserve. "We must preserve our magic energies until we definitely are in need of magic."

"What she said," Sucy remarked.

With that warning in mind, the witches then slowly had started to gain awareness of their surroundings. Constanze with the help of Amanda and Stanbot started figuring out the vehicle's problem while Professor Ursula opened her own trunk and took out a folded rag, or at least that was what it appeared to be. Akko and her teammates helped picked it by one corner and Diana rushed to help them, since Hannah and Barbara were not yet capable of providing anything but annoyance due to their lack of knowledge to camping. Together they put up the small tents.

"Come with me," Jasminka pulled the two girls who were vaguely dating one another, "Let's start the campfire and prepare dinner!"

"Ahh," Sucy murmured. "Finally they have something to do."

"Sucy…" Lotte said, wanting the other girl to lessen her snarky comments.

Akko could have agreed with Sucy but she was busy herself. While putting up a tent, she couldn't steer her gaze away from Diana who wore a light jacket to prevent sunburns despite the fact that it didn't cover her long thin legs that she showed off in a flirty manner beneath the middle length vaporous dress.

"Oh dear," Professor Ursula placed a hand on her cheek. "We've only brought five small tents with us. There are ten of us which means we have to pair up."

"Professor," Lotte said, to the worry-wart adult. "It's okay, we wouldn't have planned on camping in the woods; at least we have shelter under the sky."

"What's the sleeping arrangement anyway, _sensei_?" Akko asked the French woman.

"I knew it would be unfair if we get to choose who to share our quarters with, especially since there are nine of you and there's one of me." Professor Ursula said, retrieving a small basket inside her baggage and a piece of paper and a handy pen.

Akko and the rest watched their Professor as she divided the paper into 10 strips, she each wrote a number and folded the paper before putting it all in the basket.

"So, I had the liberty to decide that our pairings will be decided in draw lots." Professor Ursula said, distributing the basket herself, letting her students pick one. "Then, we will be paired up with the person holding the same number."

As soon as it was Akko's turn to take her pick, there were only two remaining strips so she grabbed the one on the left. Professor Ursula took the last one.

"Ooh!" Akko said, "I got the number three." She immediately stared at the others, looking for someone who got the same number.

Once glancing at the others, she saw Diana holding the same number. Behind her, Hannah and Barbara were doing a victory dance and held each other in a hug.

Akko could feel her cheeks and ears become warm at the thought of her friendly rival sharing a tent with her. Though inside, Akko was glad it wasn't Sucy for she knew she couldn't fall asleep.

The other pairs were Lotte and Sucy, Jasminka and Constanze, Hannah and Barbara, and Professor Ursula and Amanda, much to the American's dismay.

"You two don't mind sharing, do you?" Professor Ursula asked both of her beloved students.

"Me!" Amanda yelled from behind her. "Won't you ask me if I'm comfortable sharing tents with a teacher?"

"Now now, come on, Miss O'Neill," Professor Ursula patted the girl on the back. "You and I will surely get along."

Akko stared at Diana and the blonde stared back at her. Not knowing what to say or what to do. A part of Akko was utterly dismissive about spending the night with Diana under the same tent while the other one begged her to swallow her pride so she could finally have another heart to heart moment with Diana.

"Akko and I will get along just fine, Professor," Diana answered, coolly.

With a pout, Akko nevertheless accepted it thankfully and as the afternoon suddenly seemed to be fading away she entered her tent that she'd share with Diana, eager to unpack and settle in the place for the night.

The sun has set early as Lotte said it would and the fire that Jasminka, Hannah, and Barbara shone brighter. Normally the forest would have been dark and silent at this late hour, but now it rang with the sounds of the witches' voices and bawdy laughter. They all sat for dinner, enjoying Jasminka's culinary expertise, engaging one another into vivid conversations regarding the wildlife in Manba Island, while Akko would casually meddle something about Chariot's glory days, In turn, Diana would often correct Akko with the correct and specific details. Professor Ursula, in turn, become red from her fans-turned-students' praises.

"The temperatures' actually cool at night," Hannah observed while the campfire casted an eerie, flickering light on the surrounding woods.

"Well, of course, it should be," Barbara said.

"Who wants to hear some horror stories?" Amanda rubbed the palms of her hands sinisterly.

"I have one." Sucy widened her unusual eyes, at the same time the darkness casted a dark look on her. "You all have to brace yourselves. Hehehe..."

Sucy's horror stories are the ones Akko's not fond of hearing, especially around the campfire where they are surrounded with nothing but an empty road, darkness and creepy crawlies in a forest.

"Unfortunately for all of you," Sucy began. "The elder witches have a tale about the forests in these mountains."

Akko started covering her ears but she could still hear what Sucy has to say. Hannah and Barbara were already holding each other, frightened, while the rest had their edges on their seats.

Sucy's face contorted into a sinister smirk. "Some say that in these mountains, there's a man who traveled in the night when all of a sudden, a group of villagers mistook him for the sinner who escaped their judgment. They sneaked up on him, covered his head with a sack, and murdered him for a crime he did not commit."

Amanda nodded; she was enjoying hearing it when the rest was holding out for their dear lives. Even Professor Ursula was merely keeping a brave front, but Diana seemed unperturbed.

"He came back as a vengeful undead and tormented the village. Since he didn't know who killed him, he would kill every man, woman, or child if he caught you awake in the woods at night. He is surely stronger under a full moon."

Akko looked up at the silver moon that was gazing down upon them; she didn't like the fact that it was a full moon tonight.

"Ooh!" Amanda slapped her thigh in excitement. "How does the rhyme go?"

"When pebbles roll down the mountain,

Beware the bane wrongly slain.

Next: the echoes of lost children's laughter.

The one who wakes shall be he's after."

"SUCY!" Akko threw a pebble at Sucy's direction and intentionally missed. "Stop scaring us!"

"The rhyme is pretty handy," Sucy said. Her snickering was uncontrollable. "You'll know you're targeted by the undead when you hear those warnings."

"Is there really a killer on the loose on these mountains?" Hannah gulped, as she and Barbara glanced warily around them, their hands locked into each other.

"And will attack us if we're caught awake?" Barbara quivered in fear.

"Girls," Diana reasoned, crossing her arms together. "Tales such as those are merely told to scare children from sneaking out of their lovely huts into the mountains out at night."

Sucy snickered more. "What she said."

Professor Ursula clapped her hands together. "Alright then, let's head to bed. Constanze would have fixed the van in the morning, oh and please change clothes before you go to sleep."

Constanze and Stanbot nodded with a thumbs-up. Her clothes were still greased with oil.

The witches lifted themselves from the ground, and after finishing their chores before bed like adding more firewood to the fire and washing the dishes they used during dinner, they waved at each other as they proceeded to walk purposefully towards the path that leads them back to their tents. Their tents weren't that far apart but it encircled the fire so the light would be properly shared.

Before heading to bed, Diana noticed that Sucy's fearful incantation stayed with Akko as the girl trembled tremendously.

"Akko," she said.

The sound of her rival's voice surprised her. "Yes?"

"Sucy's only trying to scare you." Diana squeezed Akko's hand for reassurance.

"I know," Akko pouted, patting her beating heart, making it submit to her will.

"Remember, you attract what you fear," Diana said. "Sleep without thinking of it, and you'll be fine. Plus, you can wake me up if you find that you're unable to calm yourself."

Akko's heart leaped to her throat at the offer, "T-thank you Diana but I'd rather not wake you up. Lotte and Sucy had been telling me I snore sometimes."

"That'd be a wonderful snore," Diana said dreamily.

* * *

 _ **Akko has**_ been able to sleep. But it was only for about four hours before waking up. It wasn't chilly enough and it wasn't warm enough. Akko thrashed her blanket away for it was uncomfortable.

The midnight moonlight coming through the gap of the tent, her heart pounding and sweat flowing. She sat up, gasping for breath as though she were being suffocated.

In slow cautious movements, she reached for her phone and was bummed that there was still no signal. Peering through the gap of the tent, she was met with intrepid darkness, hearing night insects and animals prowl under the moonlight.

Akko was about to head back to sleep when she heard the sound of pebbles rolling down the side of the nearby slope.

Her heart hammered her blood in all directions. "Wasn't that the first sign from Sucy's rhyme?" she whispered to herself. "Nah must be my imagination."

She puffed up her pillow, ready to sleep when she became conscious that she should not pass the opportunity to stare at Diana's sleeping face. The tension that surrounded her body relaxed as she fluttered her eyes open. Slowly blinking out the blurry vision bit by bit as it focused on Diana's sleeping form.

Diana laid there next to her in deep sleep and the air had become insufficient for Akko. The prodigal witch was really a sight to behold. She was beautiful as she was kindhearted and smart.

Independently from her, she sensed her right arm extending forward to touch Diana's cotton-like hair. Sleeping Diana was an innocent angel that she will surely be punished if she dared to touch such holy being.

Akko fought herself on wanting to wake Diana up and disturbing her slumber so she stayed still, hoping to relax; however, she found the concept difficult as the silence gnawed at her.

Then came laughter—sick, chilling, and poisonous high-pitched laughter. It engulfed her ears in a never-ending loop. It didn't help that she was surrounded by darkness with the only light coming from the campfire and the flashlight provided on her phone.

She remembered the second warning from the urban rhyme Sucy told them. Fear rising within her, she closed her eyes to try to go to sleep.

Her breathing and logical mind ceased to exist. Her eyes quivering in her sockets as she saw shadows just keep appearing and disappearing outside the tent with resounding footfalls. The laughter of the children still rings. Only now it's accompanied by the ticks and the tocks of millions of clocks that surround the canvas of her mind. Akko looked at herself, at her body, at her arms as they all tremble uncontrollably. Her hands grip the sides of her head, her mouth opening to scream but nothing comes out.

The silent returned, though it didn't return as a sound of comfort. For some reason, Akko knew it was the calm before the storm.

The present silence was eerie; it was like she was in a foreign land with scary monsters surrounding her and the shadows of the room only grew darker and despite being surrounded by everything there was little to distract herself with from the lingering thoughts in her head.

Then she remembered what Diana told her. "You attract what you fear."

She took a lungful of air, gathering courage with it. Akko figured that perhaps Sucy was forming an elaborate prank on her and she's on it with Amanda, Jasminka, and Constanze. Wearing a brave front, she walked outside the comforts of her tent and looked around.

There was no one there, the fire kept burning, and her companions snoring in their slumber. So when she decided to return back to her tent, long chilled fingers clasped around Akko's neck. A fission of fear snaked its' way into her heart.

The captor turned Akko about until she was facing him. Akko's scalp prickled in recognition and her eyes grew wide in alarm. A sinister rugged man prowled closer until all she could see was shining eyes and a blood red mouth.

"You're awake," he whispered.

The broken man morphed into something monstrous. The cracks on his skin pieced together, the acute sound of bones popping into place echoed as the skin joined once more.

* * *

 _ **Diana woke**_ up, expecting to see Akko's drooling face. But the girl wasn't there; Diana figured that she might have gone outside and had done some exercise or something. She knew the girl was too impatient to be holed up in one place.

She got up and fixed her bed and Akko's. Diana heard multiple thuds when she raised the futon to fold it. Akko's phone and wand filed the empty space on the floor.

"This girl," she heaved.

Akko could be a child sometimes but it was due to her childlike wonder that Diana found intriguing about the Japanese girl. When she went outside, the others had just been waking up too. Constanze was tediously covered in grease, fixing the van.

The air permeated with Jasminka's cooking. She had a pan over the fire and she cooked slices of bacon and eggs while boiling some soup that she had prepared beforehand. Diana stared at the soup and found there were some greens and ingredients that she was sure that none of her friends brought with them.

The Russian girl's culinary expertise and foraging skills could save them anywhere even if they were stranded in a forest.

Diana had an eye out for Akko the whole time, circling the camping grounds. She noticed that Sucy has also been looking around then a permanent grin seemed to have stayed on her face.

The perky brunette's absence gave her a feeling of paranoia. As if waiting impatiently for something to happen and secretly worrying about her. Hannah and Barbara noticed her mood and went by her side, following her around.

Diana couldn't get the bad feeling that etched its way into her heart. She's convinced that she should be doing something to look for her. She pondered for a while and stopped walking, Hannah and Barbara stopped as well. The flow of her thoughts threatened to overwhelm her. She wrung her hands but did not make a sound that could have betrayed her confusion.

"Don't worry, Diana." Hannah and Barbara placed a hand on each of her shoulders.

"Knowing Akko, she might have gone far while exploring," Hannah said.

"Yeah, she'll be back," Barbara added.

"For what it's worth girls," Diana heaved. "I hope you are right."

When breakfast was ready, that was the time Diana's worrying went onto the next level. Everyone gathered around the fire, some sitting on stools, some huge rocks or blankets when she asked. "Has anyone seen Akko?"

"What?" Lotte asked, after swallowing some eggs. "Akko's not inside your tent the whole time?"

"No, why would she stay there when she won't dare to miss breakfast?"

"Well," Sucy started. "She could be tired after the shenanigans you two might be up to all night."

"Sucy!" Lotte elbowed her in the ribs.

Sucy winced in pain, while Amanda snickered. Diana chose to ignore the Mushroom Queen's remark.

"Did you see her leave your tent earlier?" Professor Ursula placed a hand on her cheek in worry.

"No," Diana said. "I was hoping that any of you seen her."

"You're her tent mate. You should have known where she went." Amanda pointed her spoon at her.

"Jasminka?" Diana hoped the pink haired girl knew.

Jasminka stopped gobbling up her meal. "No, I haven't seen her all morning."

"That girl," Diana bit her lip, contemplating. "Where had she gone?"

"Relax," Amanda tapped her foot while munching on some bacon. "Akko might have found some squirrels and got too preoccupied in petting them."

"There are no squirrels here though," Sucy said, grinning.

Diana couldn't help but think Akko's teammate was up to something mischievous or something rather sinister.

"Then some other wild animal then?" Amanda asked, the others merely shrugged and that's how the conversation died down to give way to eating.

Once breakfast was over, they went over their chores once more while Constanze, her little robot, and Amanda continued fixing the van. After several hours of tucking their belongings and pouring water over the campfire in the morning, it was then that Diana decided Akko was indeed missing.

"Akko wouldn't wander off without her phone or her wand," Diana argued, despite the insistent comfort her teammates give her. "Surely she got lost in the woods.

"The great Diana Cavendish is having paranoia." Sucy snickered. Beside her, Lotte looked like she feared what would come next in Sucy's mouth. "That's something you don't see every day."

"Why did you have to scare her so much?" Diana's levelheadedness disappeared. "Your unbridled spirit to have your way into using Akko as a subject of your experiments must cease!"

The witches gasped in shock when the cool and measured Cavendish girl resorted to blaming. Professor Ursula, who was paying respects to the trees in the vicinity, knew the result would start a group fight so she sprinted towards the girls to hover and cease the trouble that was brewing.

"Hey," Sucy goaded. "Are you blaming me for Akko's disappearance?"

"My apologies, I had no means of disrespecting, but I must say. It all fits. You've been acting weird since this morning. You've been grinning more than usual. You don't necessarily smile often unless; forgive me for stereotyping, mushrooms or Akko's troubles."

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Amanda cheered on.

Diana then craned her neck towards Amanda, irked. "You're also partially at fault. I wonder what got into your head when you suggested a scary story. Now I'm insinuating that the scary story is not a story at all but a curse! If Akko's merely frightened, she wouldn't have run away!

"What?" Amanda asked. "Listen to yourself, Diana. A curse? You're being paranoid right now!"

"The girl wouldn't wander off without her wand or her phone and surely she got lost in the woods!" Diana crossed her arms, staring daggers at Sucy. "I don't have the leisure to know you better, Sucy. But I get the gist of your character. Well? Is the rhyme a curse?"

"It is." Sucy deadpanned.

"WHAT?" everyone was shaken.

"I was bored," Sucy grinned. "The rhyme is actually an elaborate incantation by the Manbavarans to curse the non-magical people. You see, it's annoying for us when random strangers greet us on the mountains while we mushroom hunt at night."

"In conclusion, the Manbavarans made this curse so that whoever hears the incantation and those who wake in the evening around this mountains shall get lost."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it."

"So where's Akko?"

"I don't know," Sucy said. "I've been curious for so long so I decided to have fun with all of you by setting a harmless curse on you. One is bound to be awake at midnight."

Gasps sounded from everyone, the tone of their voices betrayed a certain bitterness that Diana did not wish to accentuate with her response on the matter.

"SUCY!" Lotte scolded her. "That was not nice!"

That was more than not nice, Diana grimaced. That was unsettling and just plain evil.

"How can a curse be harmless?" Jasminka asked.

"If it's a curse," Amanda asked. "How come Akko's the only one who's affected?"

"She might have woken up around three in the morning," Sucy said. "The beast man must have taken her somewhere."

"Girls!" Professor Ursula got in between the fighting group. "Let's all be reasonable here. I think it's best if we ask Sucy's relatives for help. They know the mountains pretty well."

"No!" Diana reasoned out, sometimes wondering why she has the inclination to yell at the Professor because of Akko. "I found her before. I'll find her again!"

"Then lead the group to find her once more." Professor Ursula solemnly nodded. "I need Constanze and Jasminka to stay. We'll have to fix the van as soon as we can. I think we all agree we've had enough of these forest mountains."

As been instructed, Diana led the group of five witches into the forest. "As was agreed yesterday, we must preserve our magic energies. Amanda and I shall look from a higher ground while the rest of you travel in pairs. We don't need anyone else getting lost. Keep your wands at you."

"We'll head over the same direction, won't we?" Lotte asked.

"Yes, but we need to stretch out to cover more grounds. Every nook and cranny of this forest are vital in locating a missing person." Diana said.

She and Amanda mounted their brooms and rose higher to begin their search.

Akko's not that quite difficult to track if you knew her well. But this place was unfamiliar, so it might actually take a while. The forest was a couple of feet away from them but one could only see the first trees and some of their branches, for the depth could not be perceived so easily due to the murkiness that seemed to have narcotized the habitual vividness of the surroundings,

If they were here for another occasion rather than getting stranded and searching for their lost friend, Diana would personally observe and study this habitat which seemed to be brimming with magic. Good and Bad.

Being with the other members of the team all day long, comparing diagrams of magical energies from the soil to the trees and magical creatures' breeding or migration and making random assumptions about the wildlife they were researching.

It hadn't been five minutes and Diana detected a trail of someone who walked through the forest for there were crushed sticks that had been resting on the soft soil until their peaceful existence had been interrupted by someone's stampeding.

Diana knew the trail leads to Akko.

As they flew above the rich smell of the healthy earth, a path opened wide before them like an old carriage road just rediscovered. In the point in their passage, the trees began to change. They stretched taller, and the pale barks darkened. Here the sun mellowed and the shadows seemed to fall a bit longer; the forest had sunk into a deeper silence, magnifying what sounds did arise.

She clutched fiercer to the handle of her broom while steadily moving along the forest floor, every once in a while looking around for clues. The base camp seemed to be far away now that they prepared to venture into the dark forest, which was succumbed in a peculiar silence that not even the creatures of the night dared to disturb.

Diana noticed a small mouth of a cave from the base of a mountain. She averted her gaze to Amanda who was flying meters away from her left. "Amanda!" she yelled. "I found something!"

Amanda gave a hearty reply and speeded towards the ground to call the others.

Diana, on the other hand, headed first towards the base of the mountain. Stopping inches away from the large cavity in the ground and peeked inside the cave's looming darkness. She couldn't see much as the cave's opening stretched inward of the mountain. Judging it from the outside, Diana came to a conclusion that this one was made when wind erodes away the weak areas but it is definitely large enough that some portion of it will not receive direct sunlight.

The other witches arrived moments later in faint gasping.

"Do you think..." Lotte asked while trying to catch her breath. "Akko's here?"

"We're about to find out," Diana said, retrieving her wand to produce a source of light when she proceeded inside. The others followed her like she's a brave leader when a group of friends stumbled upon a haunted interior.

"There was nothing to be scared," Amanda told Hannah and Barbara to calm them down. No one could blame her if she was getting slightly pissed. The girls were wholly frightened at the ordeal or merely in general.

Diana wished she could concur to Amanda's claims, but outer appearances fooled her. There was something definitely odd about the cave.

The entrance could fit an average person's height and the inside walls were smooth as if it was carved by someone. There was a wind coming from the inside of the cave as if all around her were breathing. It was as if she could see the water dripping gracefully from their jewel-like buds of the ceiling, the young insects creeping purposefully forward on the earth. The only audible sound was produced by their feet as they touched the ground and of course, Sucy's snickering and her teammates' whimpers.

A chill ran down Diana's spine but she knew that it was not on account of the chilly wind that had just started to blow, nor the numbness that pierced her feet.

Then they heard a voice talking, but broken like a forced stop of a vinyl player echoing from inside. The witches didn't hesitate, they rushed in.

The cave wasn't spacious as soon as they got further in. They saw Akko sprawled across the cave floor, her face paled and the colors of her eyes dimmed.

"Akko!" Lotte called her eyes wide with fright. They all surrounded her, holding her and shaking her.

"How did she get here in the first place?" Amanda asked the real question.

Sucy merely shrugged. "Let's ask my folks when we get back."

Diana came to know that she was holding her breath, though at no time such a thing had been required.

Lotte touched the girl's shoulder. "She's ice cold!"

"Is she poisoned?" Hannah and Barbara made nervous glances around to see if she was poisoned by an insect or something.

"Hey, Akko!" Amanda gently slapped the brunette's face. "Wake up!"

Slowly, Diana couldn't feel her fingertips. She shook, petrified. Similar to the night when she had seen her mother's dead body lying on the bed, beneath the enchanted ceiling of the Cavendish Manor with the ghost of her last smile still etched on her mother's cold purple lips.

Lotte's tears flowing from her eyes as they all removed their excess clothing to wrap around the weakened girl. A series of begging came from all the girls for Akko to wake up.

"She's still in a curse," Sucy said.

"Do you have the anti-curse?" Lotte asked her quickly.

"I don't have it in my memory," Sucy said, looking at Diana. "We hardly use it anymore. Everyone knows about the disappearances at night, so they don't go out at night,"

Everyone instantly knew what Sucy was thinking and all turned to their prodigal witch. "Diana?"

"You have nothing to fear!" Hannah stated. "Diana can save her!"

"That's right!" Barbara chimed in. "Believe in her!"

Diana's heart became heavy. She pointed her wand at Akko, holding it both with her hands, "I intend for you not to suffer any longer, Akko. The curse that ruled over you shall fall apart." she found herself shaking then with a lungful of air then chanted, "Ennor Fiendennor!"

Once the Curse Lifting Spell was placed, Diana's heart still clenched in morbid fear, insecurities about casting the spell held on to her tightly even if the spell was a guaranteed anti-curse for anyone who is a Cavendish.

"She's going to be fine," Diana assured them but she wouldn't know.

The girl looked dead and she hasn't even stirred. Diana prompted to check her vitals, her face paling even as she waited for a pulse. After the second mimics an eternity Diana felt a heartbeat.

"Akko," she heaved.

Akko's eyes fluttered open, color returning into her skin. "Diana? Diana, I'm cold."

"I'm here, Akko." Diana wrapped herself to Akko's, sharing her body warmth. She couldn't stop her tears from flowing nor she cared that they were surrounded by everyone. "I thought you're dying, Akko."

"Heh, you know me." Akko teased, slowly hugging Diana's form. "It takes so much more than this to kill a witch."

* * *

 **A/N**

 **My apologies if the submission for day 4 seems a bit rushed. And that Sucy's character seemed meaner than she was in the last episodes. I wanted to explore this kind of genre though I'm not sure if this qualifies for dianakko week.**


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